Pieces such as coupons, inserts, pads, cards, leaflets, forms, etc. are most efficiently transported in stacks. Often such pieces must be individually removed from the stack and inserted within or attached to other products. For this reason, devices were developed to rapidly feed pieces singly from a stack.
Existing feed devices support a stack of pieces on a continuously moving belt. The bottom-most piece of the stack contacts the surface of the continuously moving belt. Friction between the continuously moving belt and the bottom-most piece moves the bottom-most piece along with the belt. The bottom-most piece is moved by the belt beneath a friction member which prevents other pieces from the stack from being moved by the belt along with the bottom-most piece. Once the bottom-most piece passes the friction member, it is fed into a take-away system.
When moving certain types of pieces, continuous belts can cause jamming, folding, creasing, marking and other related damage to the pieces. What is needed is an improved feeding apparatus for moving a bottom-most piece from a stack.